Sunday, December 30, 2007

A New Day - Song That I Haven't Sung for Years!





MORNING HAS BROKEN

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

Saturday, December 22, 2007

How Starbucks Saved My Life - A Book

For all the self help books in the market, none can compare to this funny real life experience of a corporate high roller descended down to a lowly worker serving coffee in a busy New York neighborhood store of Starbucks Coffee.

Michael Gill did not live an ordinary life in his youth like most of us did. After graduated from one of the Ivy League, he joined a prestigious advertising company as an executive. Life was good. But through series of mysterious life events, he was brought down from an executive to having to look for a job to survive. It was in Starbucks, he truly realized the emptiness and shallowness of chasing rainbow in the corporate world. It was in Starbucks, he found genuine friendship, simple joy and profound happiness.

it is a fun book to read, delightful and full of humor.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Born on a Blue Day! - A Book

About a week ago, I accidentally stumbled on this book in my local library. To be honest, I had no idea what Autism was. I had to look up the dictionary to find its meaning. After reading several pages, I started to associate Daniel Tammet's Autistic symptom with that of the character in the movie "Rain Man" which was one of my all time favorites.

Read about Daniel's upbringing as an Autistic Savant was most fascinating. He described how numbers have soothing effect on him; he felt calm and happy around numbers and every number has distinctive color, shape, textures and personality. Somehow magically, he can do complex calculation in seconds without any mental exertion. Whenever he felt anxious, he will count numbers to himself. With numbers floating around his mental screen, he is sound and safe again.

People has Autism Spectrum Disorder live most comfortably with rigid set of routine, order and familiarity. Any sudden change in routine could cause severe anxiety. Normally, social interaction and communication proves to be impossible for people with ASD, as a result, most of them are institutionalized for life. But Daniel is different in a sense that he is able to interact and communicate with others. Not only that he has a brilliant mind in mathematical calculation and a phenomenal photographic memory, but also in the age of only 20something he now leads a normal functioning life without the need for institutional support.

This book, " Born On a Blue Day" takes us to the fascinating world of Daniel Tammet that is quite foreign to our own and yet very awe-inspiring. The mind of Autistic Savant is so out of this world that scientist still can not explain how an Autistic Savant is able to calculate large series of numbers in lightening speed.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

How Am I?

Year 2007 is rapidly coming to a close. I found myself asking, "what have I achieved in my inner world of experience?" I consider myself an explorer of human consciousness and yet the vast sea of consciousness is still elusive to me. The water is uncharted and off-limit as if there is an invisible veil stubbornly and steadfastly unyielding to my insistent probe.

Over the last six years, I have enjoyed many good books and filled my brain with all sorts of intellectual understanding of the most profound phenomenon found only in the mind of a mystic. In the depth of the night, I occasionally experience a brief but mind exhilarating out of body experience where I travel to unknown locale sampling what I can only describe as first hand experience of our timeless, ageless energy body. There is no book, however meticulously and vividly narrated, can give me a taste of what is like to be experiencing an invisible, non-physical part of me. It is the knowing that is beyond belief.

It is comforting at least to have a glimpse of my invisible self. Last several months I found myself losing that ability fast. On one hand, I am afraid that my sense of connection with the invisible plane could fail and I will be back to square one as a kindergartener learning baby steps in my advancing age. But on the other hand, I just come to realize that whatever experience and non-experience that come my way, it must be a part of the necessary learning on my inner development. No growth is going straight up to the roof. Growth is more like a gentle wave moving in a formation of a spiral. Some said that inner journey of awakening and transformation is like climbing a wilding mountain; one can easily get lost without proper direction and guidance.

" Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars." - Les Brown